I. Observation of Philippians 4:6-7
1. “Anxiety” may be defined as follows:
(a) To have harassing & unreasonable fear
(b) To be distracted, disturbed, and annoyed in mind & spirit about life and its needs, food,
clothing, and future
(c) It has the meaning of “suffering,” “brooding” “speculating”
(d) To have disturbed sleep, sometime it results in addiction
(e) Some people are called chronic worriers? (lost a lot of good moments in life)
(f) Worry is not illegitimate, but Paul gives a new orientation to it
(g) When the word is used with a negative particle, it means “ignoring something”
II. Reasons for “worry”
1. Lack of confidence in God’s care for His children
2. Faulty theology or lack of understanding our believers’ relationship with God the Father
3. Man’s desire to control
4. Forgetfulness of God’s provisions in the past
5. Worry cause us to ignore God’s role in our life
III. In Philippians, Paul provides three reasons why we must not be anxious
1. God has started a good work in believers (Philippians 1:6) (Trinitarian in nature) [this verse
flows out of verse 5 in which Paul talks about koinonia]
2. “God of peace” is with the believers (Philippians 4:9) (God who is the source of the sum total
of all blessing …)
3. God shall supply all needs of the believers (Philippians 4:19)
4. Therefore, instead of being anxious, believers must make God known their needs in
prayers (verse 6)
IV. What is “prayer” (v.6)?—prayer with understanding
1. Prayer is not something we inform God about what He does not know
2. Prayer is one’s affirmation of his/her trust in God
3. It is the opposite of “to control”—it is to transfer the anxiety
4. The result of such prayer is the “peace of God” that protects believers’ hearts
and minds
(a) Possessive genitive or genitive of origin
(b) “Peace of God” originates from God. This is one of the important gifts of God to
His people
(c) In this passage, “peace of God” is a state of wellbeing that keeps us stable in the
midst of those things that cause us anxiety
(d) “Peace of God” is not absence of problem
V. Take Away
1. Let God in-charge of things in your life that are not in our control
It is not a guarantee of all our wishes, but it is to affirm that God knows things better than
ourselves
